The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

For Conan O'Brien's other talk shows, see Conan (talk show) and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
Also known asThe Tonight Show (franchise brand)
Genre
Created bySylvester Weaver
Developed byConan O'Brien
Presented byConan O'Brien
Starring
Narrated byAndy Richter[1]
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes145 (1 not completed) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Jeff Ross[2]
  • Conan O'Brien
Producers
  • Jordan Schlansky
  • Dan Fergusson
Production locations
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time62 minutes (with commercials)
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseJune 1, 2009 (2009-06-01) –
January 22, 2010 (2010-01-22)
Related
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the fifth installment of The Tonight Show. Hosted by Conan O'Brien. It aired from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, replacing The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and was replaced by The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Many members of the Late Night cast and crew made the transition to The Tonight Show. The Max Weinberg 7, the house band from O'Brien's Late Night, served as the house band under the new name, Max Weinberg and The Tonight Show Band. Andy Richter returned to the show as announcer, and also began resuming his role as sidekick, after having left Late Night in 2000.

In January 2010, after the show had been on the air for seven months, it was announced that NBC was intending to move Jay Leno from primetime back to his original timeslot at 11:35 pm, with O'Brien's show starting shortly after midnight. In response to the announcement, O'Brien released a press statement saying that he would not continue as host of The Tonight Show if it was moved to any time after midnight to accommodate The Jay Leno Show. He feared it would ruin the long and rich tradition of The Tonight Show, which had been on after the late local newscasts from the beginning. After two weeks of negotiations, NBC announced that they had paid $45 million to buy out[3] O'Brien's contract, ending both his tenure as host as well as his relationship with NBC after 22 years.

Conan O'Brien's final Tonight Show was broadcast on January 22, 2010, with Jay Leno officially resuming his role as host on March 1, 2010, immediately following the conclusion of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It later received four Primetime Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series, the first time The Tonight Show received a nomination for this particular award after 2003.

At only 146 episodes (145 aired) over the course of seven months and three weeks, it is the shortest-running iteration in the sixty-year history of The Tonight Show.

  1. ^ Access Hollywood (February 24, 2009). "Andy Richter to join Conan on 'Tonight Show'". Today.com. Retrieved February 24, 2009. Richter will fill the role once held by Ed McMahon, serving as the announcer for the "Tonight Show" when Conan O'Brien takes over the reins from Jay Leno on June 1.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference nbcuv was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Carter, Bill (January 22, 2010). "Fingers Still Pointing, NBC and O'Brien Reach a Deal". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 31, 2017. Retrieved February 25, 2017.